Thunderbirds thump Cougars | WHL

Cavin Leth had two goals and goalie Landon Bow made 26 saves to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-0 win over the Prince George Cougars at CN Centre in British Columbia on Wednesday night.

It was T-Birds’ first shutout of the season.

Bow made 10 saves in the first period, seven saves in the second period and nine saves in the third period. The defense in front of Bow was strong as the T-Birds killed off seven Prince George power plays.

This was the second of back-to-back games in Prince George. The Cougars won 6-2 Tuesday night.

The T-Birds (23-15-3-0) are three points behind the Everett Silvertips for first place in the U.S. Division. The Cougars are now 26-16-1-1 on the season with the loss.

The T-Birds erupted for four goals in the third period, the first of which came 13 seconds into the period. Nolan Volcan got the puck deep into the Cougars zone off the opening faceoff. Scott Eansor got the puck behind the Prince George net and centered it to Leth on top of the crease. Leth quickly put the puck past Prince George goalie Ty Edmonds for a 1-0 T-Birds lead.

Leth struck at 14:06 of the second period on the power play to give the T-Birds a 2-0 lead. Andreas Schumacher passed the puck to Bryan Allbee who carried it down the right wing into the Cougars zone. At the bottom of the right circle, Allbee centered the puck to Leth in the high slot. Leth’s wrist shot beat Edmonds low for his ninth goal of the season.

The T-Birds made it a 3-0 lead at 17:30 of the third on a pretty passing play from Mathew Barzal and Nick Holowko. Barzal carried the puck into the offensive zone on the left wing. Barzal passed the puck to Holowko in the slot. Holowko sent the puck to Ryan Gropp in the right circle. Edmonds went down thinking Holowko was going to shoot and Gropp had the whole net to shoot at. Gropp hit the net for his 19th goal of the season.

The T-Birds had to kill off a double minor high sticking penalty to Scott Eansor to finish the game. Jerret Smith got to a loose puck along the right boards deep in the Seattle zone. Knowing he could ice the puck, Smith flung the puck up ice and out of the zone. The puck just missed the right post and cross the goal line for the T-Birds fourth goal the game at 18:59 of the period.

Seattle outshot Prince George 28-26 in the game.

Edmonds made 24 saves on 27 shots and his record is now 14-9-0-1.

The T-Birds host the Regina Pats at 7:05 p.m. Friday at the ShoWare Center. They travel to Everett to take on the Silvertips at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office.

Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – No scoring. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (major-fighting), :51. Anderson, PG (major-fighting), :51. Johnson, PG (major-fighting), 2:53. Osterman, Sea (major-fighting), 2:53. Ottenbreit, Sea (tripping), 5:32. McDonald, PG (high-sticking), 5:42. Schuldhaus, Sea (roughing), 15:24. Witala, PG (slashing), 16:19.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (holding), 2:59. Bench, PG (too many men-served by Morrison), 4:10. Osterman, Sea (tripping), 6:33. Gabrielle, PG (high-sticking), 6:53. Bench, PG (too many men-served by Almeida), 10:16.

Third period – 1, Seattle, Leth 8 (Eansor, Volcan), :13. 3, Seattle, Leth 9 (Allbee, Schumacher), 14:06 (pp). 3, Seattle, Gropp 19 (Holowko, Barzal), 17:30. 4, Seattle, Smith 7, 18:59 (en/sh). Penalties – Holowko, Sea (tripping), 3:11. Volcan, Sea (interference), 8:46. Bench, PG (too many men-served by Morrison), 12:34. Eansor, Sea (double minor-high sticking), 17:58.

Shots on goal – Seattle 5-14-9 28, Prince George 10-7-9 26. Goalies – Seattle, Bow 26 shots-26 saves (12-14-4-0); Prince George, Edmonds 27-24 (14-9-0-1). Power plays – Seattle 1-5; Prince George 0-7. A – 2,362. Referees – Brett Iverson, Colin Watt. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Nick Albinati.